James Gunn’s Firing Could Also Affect ‘Avengers 4’

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Marvel placed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on hold in the wake of James Gunn’s firing. Despite the best efforts of his cast and a meeting with Disney head Alan Horn, Gunn won’t be returning to the MCU for the foreseeable future, leaving Vol. 3 — and its affect on the overall MCU narrative — in purgatory. According to Dave Bautista, the Guardians sequel isn’t the only movie impacted by Gunn’s firing.

With just eight months until its release, we still don’t know the official title of Avengers 4. That delay might have something to do with the firing of James Gunn, which may have shaken up Joe and Anthony Russo’s plans for the follow-up to Infinity War. As we previously learned, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is (or was) meant to set up the next decade of the MCU; it’s reasonable to assume that the Guardians’ roles in Avengers 4 — another pivotal installment — would be tied to the events of Vol. 3.

Without Gunn’s involvement in either, Marvel has to rethink the overall narrative sequence for their films post-Captain Marvel, which hits theaters next March. (Brie Larson’s big debut is set in the ’90s, so it hasn’t been impacted by any of this.)

Speaking with Digital Spy, Bautista, who plays Drax the Destroyer, said “it’s kind of a strange situation to be in now” that Gunn is gone. Disney fired the filmmaker last month after an alt-right media personality dug up old tweets containing bad jokes that the studio felt conveyed “offensive attitudes.” Aside from its obvious impact on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Bautista says that Gunn’s departure may have also had an effect on Avengers 4:

Guardians 3 is really up in the air and I don’t know what they’re going to do with it. It’s on permanent hold for now, and that may make a difference in what they do with our characters in Avengers 4. To be honest with you, right now I really don’t know.

The actor went on to say that he’s already filmed most of his role in the Avengers sequel, and that he only has a couple of days of reshoots remaining before it’s complete. Still, he’s not sure how much of the Guardians footage the Russo brothers will use, as the cast’s role could suffer now that Vol. 3 is on hold.